There are lots of internet surveys floating around right now intended to make the writer/blogger/emailer reflect on their 2006. They ask where you went in 2006, your major purchases, what your birthday was like, what you did that you've never done before. It's an interesting idea, because it makes people think about their year in a way that they might not have on their own. People tend to expound on the answers past yes or no, adding information that leads you to know how they felt about whatever situations they're describing. They work really well for some people, but for people like me who already spend most of their time reflecting on their own experiences, they're not really necessary.
When I reflect on 2006, years down the line, the best I'll probably be able to come up with is "interesting". I wouldn't be able to say that 2006 was a bad year by any means, but it's a little difficult to refer to something as a good year when you spent seven months living over 600 miles away from your husband.
But 2006 was an interesting year, to be sure. I fulfilled a nearly lifelong goal of moving to New York. I landed an incredible job at one of the world's top architectural firms. I turned 21 and spent the night forgetting who I was with ten of my favorite people in the whole world, even though I was far away from my home and my comfort zone.
I had the wedding of my dreams, even though it sent us into a pretty massive spiral of debt. Almost every single person we care about was able to come and spend the day with us, and the day was perfect. The week surrounding it gave me an opportunity to spend time with the people I love the most - my mother, my husband and my best friends. At the end of it all, I was married to an incredible man who supports my every endeavor, even though he realizes I'm a little crazy.
I got to live with my best friend and form an incredble friendship with his roommate. I spent seven months taking pictures, making food, watching Mets games, taking long train rides and having drinks with friends. It's difficult to sum up a whirlwind seven months, but I think those might be the high points. I had people come to visit me and I got to take ownership of this city that I had attributed to my best friend for so long. The night he moved away, our toommate told me that he felt the city had finally been given to us, and I think he might be right.
I spent time getting to know people that I considered good acquaintances before. We went out, we shared stories, we became good friends instead of the people we see from time to time. We created inside jokes and said goodbyes every three months or so when we had to move to new locations, but we returned with even stronger friendships.
Of course, I'm over-romanticizing a bit here. The year wasn't all easy. I worked harder this year than ever before and put in so many hours that it's shocking I ever got any sleep. There were fights, there was drama, I worried about money every single day. Tears, screaming, accusations, and all sorts of things that just aren't worth talking about anymore. They ended with hugs and kisses and reassurance, and we're all better people for it. That's the way things should end, always.
I've spent the last month writing every single day. I missed two days, one because it was really before I decided to take on the daily writing project, and one because I had just moved back and was simply too tired. I had hoped to learn something, but I wasn't sure what it was going to be. The other day, I received an issue of one of my favorite magazines that was filled with things you can do with fifteen minutes of your day to make life easier and more pleasurable. It made me think of the project. It takes me anywhere between fifteen and forty-five minutes to write an average post. I probably spend part of the day thinking about it before I actually write it, and of course, there's the picture taking and the process behind it if it's a more involved post. Making the decision to write every day made me actually sit down, take at least fifteen minutes out of the day, and focus on just one thing. I am the type of person who "never has time" for anything. No free time for this girl. And yet, when I made the decision to take fifteen minutes a day to write, I found the time. So what's to say that I can't use that fifteen minutes for something else? I might not write every day anymore - in fact, I probably won't. But I could take those fifteen minutes to sip a cup of tea and watch a favorite TV show. I could lay in bed and kiss my husband. I could make those phone calls that I just never have time for. I could compose an email to an old friend. Ultimately, fifteen minutes just isn't that much, but it means the world when it gets us to do something we really love.
So here's to you, 2006. I'll raise a glass of Asti to you at 11:59, I'll watch that great big ball drop on the television, I'll kiss my husband and ring in 2007 with some of my closest friends. Here's hoping that 2007 goes a little easier, but has just as many great moments.
Here's the thing about Ohio - you can get a lot of terrible beer for very little money. Now, I consumed quite a bit of alcohol in New York, but at $6 or more per glass, I really had to think about what I was drinking. Drop me in a bar with pitchers of Miller Lite for $6.25, and I really have to question all those Hoegaardens.
So last night, one of my good friends who recently returned from Los Angeles invited me and the husband to join him and another good friend of ours who also spent four months in Los Angeles for drinks at a little bar that honestly, I don't like. I don't know why I don't like it. The only other experience I've ever had there was on Ian's birthday when they almost didn't let 21-years-and-five-days me and turning-21-at-midnight Ian in... it was too crowded, it was really loud, and generally not the world's most fantastic experience. But the drinks are cheap, and since all the college kids are currently at their parents' house instead of crowding into the bar, we went out.
The experience was better than last time, mostly because Andrew & Ian had already staked out the foosball room by the time we got there. I do like the foosball room. It's a little room with one well-loved foosball table and a number of stools, as well as little wall ledges to set your pitchers of bad beer on. God help me, I'm a sucker for dive bars and crappy beer. It was the first one I had been to since getting back, and there's a certain comfortability about it for me. You can take the girl out of Ohio, but I suppose you can't take the Ohio out of the girl.
Weird.
So needless to say, we stayed through last call (that's 2:00 here as opposed to my beloved 4:00 in NYC), everyone got home safely (as referenced by the text messages I demanded everyone send me when they got home), and I slept in until 12:30. God, it felt great. I was, however, perfectly coherent enough to make the starter for the bread I'm attempting to make for dinner tonight. It doesn't look particularly promising. We'll see how it turns out.
Tonight, Jen & Grace are coming over for a fabulous night of fondue. We're starting off with a romaine and arugula salad with balsamic vinaigrette and pan-seared sirloin, topped with the world's best romano cheese (yes, dear readers, you are sensing a trend). Then it's on to a traditional swiss fondue composed of gruyere and emmenthal cheese, topped off with the boozy hot chocolate I so adore. A night of friends, fantastic food (that's easy to make!), wine, and laughing about our respective holidays. I couldn't be more excited.
I know, I know. I said I was going to save this post for tomorrow, and who knows? I might have absolutely nothing to share tomorrow now that I'm wasting it with this. But, I figured I should post while it's all fresh in my mind.
As I've mentioned, I got the idea for dinner on the way home from the grocery store today. Fresh, meat-filled spinach ravioli with tomato sauce. Now, there are many stores that sell spinach ravioli and tomato sauce. I could have made it in about twenty minutes. Instead, I opted to turn it into a three hour battle between me and the kitchen.
There aren't many pictures for this one, because I spent most of the time making it incredibly angry. Nothing went right on this one. The meat filling sucked up too much of the sauce so there was no liquid to set up, the stupid spinach pasta was so moist that I had to add a ton of flour to even make it possible to roll, then I laid the sheets out on cookie sheets on my stove top because I don't have enough counter space and they ended up sticking to the sheets... It was just ridiculous.
It should be noted that I've never made ravioli before, and it was the first time using my pasta roller for anything other than a test batch to see how it worked. The next time I do it (and I'm sure there will be a next time, because it was delicious), I'll know better. So, don't get discouraged by my failures on this one - it really did taste amazing, but I'm still very much learning how to make pasta, so I'm not very good at it yet.
Step one was to grind all the meat. I had a chuck roast that I needed to use, so I cut it into 1" cubes and used the food grinder attachment for my KitchenAid to grind it all up. The picture below is of my mixer with the attachment on it. For anyone with a mixer who's been thinking about the attachment, here's how it works. Food goes in a hole at the top (in the tray; not really visible in this picture), then you push it down with the included plunger and it goes down the tube to a spiral that pushes it up into the spinning metal plates at the end, grinding it. You have to sit a bowl underneath it to catch the food coming out. Apparently it's meant to be used for more than just meat, but I've yet to test how that works. Then, the meat comes out looking beautiful and ground.
I browned the meat, then combined it with some beef stock to simmer for about 45 minutes. Mark Bittman's recipe suggests using red wine or good beef or chicken stock. I didn't have a bottle of red wine open and didn't really feel like opening one for just one cup. That, and I accidentally bought a ton of extra beef stock when I was at the supermarket last time, so I needed to use it anyway. The problem was that even though it was low-sodium, it was still pretty salty-tasting. Simmering the meat in it for that long gave it a sort of salty taste even in the ravioli. I added salt, of course, because that's what I do - but for next time, I'll either use the wine or leave the extra salt out.
The dough for the pasta was a major challenge. It was made the same way that all pastas are made - eggs, flour, salt. I added about 5 ounces of spinach to the dough, and it took a lot of extra flour to make up for that added moisture. I drained the spinach thoroughly, but it was still pretty wet. I let the dough chill as recommended, but it was still impossible to roll it out. The dough was just too moist and wouldn't roll out flat. After some working, it came together, but it took a whole lot of convincing. I also used part all-purpose flour, part semolina and durum. Might have had something to do with it.
After I had the pasta in sheets, I put little balls of the meaty mixture on it and turned it into ravioli. They were the worst shaped ravioli ever, and they were absolutely huge. Remember, friends: pasta expands. I forget this... EVERY TIME. While the ravioli was boiling away in it's happy, easily five-inches-on-any-side glory, I made the sauce. It was the same tomato sauce I made the other day for the pizza, but I had some of the older stuff left over so I made a little hybrid of it. I heated olive oil and added some chopped shallots, then added in a can of diced tomatoes, the leftover sauce, and a little salt and pepper. Good as new. I let the sauce simmer while the ravioli was cooking, then added the ravioli as it was finished cooking. I let it simmer all together, then served it up with some fresh grated romano cheese.
Spinach pasta, from The Mixer Bible
5 oz. frozen spinach, thawed
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
Squeeze out as much water as possible from spinach and chop finely. Place flour and salt in the mixer bowl. Attach the flat beater and mixer bowl to the mixer. Set to Stir and mix briefly. Add spinach and eggs; mix until dough forms large clumps. Using your hands, form dough into a ball. If dough is shaggy and dry, and won't form a ball, add 1 tsp water and mix until incoroprated. If it's too sticky, add 1 tbsp flour and mix until incorporated. If necessary, keep adding water or flour in small increments and mix until dough comes together. Remove the flat beater and attach the dough hook to the mixer. Set to speed 2 and knead for 2 minutes, until dough comes together in a firm ball. Remove dough and wrap in plastic wrap. Let rest for 20 minutes before rolling out.
Note: the above instructions are for a stand mixer, but the dough could be made by hand as well.
Meat Filling for Fresh Pasta, from How to Cook Everything
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound ground meat
1 cup red wine or good meat or chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup minced prosciutto or other ham (optional)
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
Plain bread crumbs, if needed
Place olive oil in a large, deep skillet; turn the heat to medium. Add the meat and cook, stirring and breaking up any lumps, until it loses its color. Add the wine or stock and salt and pepper, then turn the heat to very low. Cook, stirring occasionally and adding more liquid if necessary, until the meat is tender and the sauce thickened, about 45 minutes. Add the garlic and ham and cook another 5 minutes. Cool thoroughly, then stir in the parsley, Parmesan, and egg. If the mixture is still liquidy, stir in some bread crumbs. Use to fill the pasta immediately, or refrigerate for up to a day before using.
A few years ago, I really didn't like to cook things that involved meat. Meat is slimy and gross, and who wants to touch that? Then I worked in my dad's meat market for a few months, which ended in me swearing off meat for a time.
Today, I used my new meat grinder to destroy a 4 lb. roast. I told John that at this rate, by the time I'm 25 I'll be filleting puppies. God, grinding meat is gross. It's not that I dislike the food grinder - quite the opposite. I love it. When I opened the box on Christmas day, I had visions of never buying store-ground beef again. We'd save so much money, and it would taste fresher, and and and...
And then, I used it. If you've never heard the squishy sound that 1" cubes of meat make as they're pushed through a 1/4" thick piece of metal, you don't get to talk to me about what's disgusting.
I will say this, though: the meat looks fantastic. Tonight we're doing ravioli, and I'm sure I'll post all about it tomorrow. I'm savoring my downtime right now, so there won't be a recipe post today. I made spinach pasta dough that's currently chilling in the fridge. Right now, my freshly-ground beef is simmering on the stove, and in about 30 minutes, it'll become the filling for my ravioli. After I write this post, I'll get up and go make the tomato sauce to put over the ravioli, and voila - dinner.
The phrase "from scratch" is starting to mean more to me. Dinner tonight essentially came from a great big chuck roast, flour, eggs, spinach, tomatoes, olive oil, and a few different seasonings. There was no store-bought sauce, hell, there wasn't even store-ground meat. I think John's getting worried. I told him that as long as he has food, he doesn't have anything to worry about.
The one pre-made thing we're eating tonight is a garlic and onion foccacia that John fell in love with at the new store we went to. I recently learned that the closest Whole Foods is over 100 miles away. I came to know and love Whole Foods when I lived in New York, and so to learn that I didn't have one here made me sulk for about 15 minutes or so. We have Jungle Jim's, which I love, but let's face it - it's hard to find things there because it's so huge, and it's 20+ miles away from me. So, Jen & Grace told me about a new store called The Fresh Market that's just down the street, and I thought, why not?
It's amazing. I just love it. It's incredibly similar to my beloved Whole Foods, but not as crowded as the one in Columbus Circle, and as a special bonus, I don't have to drive 100 miles to get there. Their pre-made food looked fantastic, but I resisted. There'll be lots of time for that when school starts up again and I don't have time to cook.
I also got my first issue of Real Simple today. It's all about things you can do in 15 minutes. What a perfect issue when I'm getting ready to go back to classes next Wednesday. Exercise, dinner - all sorts of things that take less than 15 minutes, and all things that I might look into doing.
For now, I'm going to check on that simmering food. The whole apartment smells like meat sauce, and I'm pretty excited to try it.
So, number one - I decided to get my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed today. Both feel fabulous. I was, however, a little intimidated when I realized that the boy waxing my eyebrows had none and drew his in with a red pencil. He turned out to be fabulous (in all senses of the word), but it was still a little scary. I'll admit it, I sort of judge people. Especially people who are about to brush hot wax on my face and rip off a layer of skin. I'm edgy about that sort of thing.
Then, I went down to Borders to buy yet another cookbook. I can't be stopped.
After that, it was off to Party Source to pick up things I need for this weekend. I'm having two of our good friends over on Saturday night for some hot fondue action, and it calls for Kirschwasser, a cherry-flavored liqueur. I decided, upon seeing the $13 bottle that didn't come any smaller, that I was going to substitute cherry brandy instead. It came in a much smaller $6 bottle. I am pleased. Also, I picked up Kahlua for the boozy hot chocolate I'm planning to make for them, as well as some New Year's treats.
Party Source is a huge store here in Cincinnati with the largest alcohol selection in the region. They card everyone. And guess who didn't get carded, three days before New Year's Eve? That's right, this 21 year old right here. I can only assume that I am now ancient, and no one will ever think of me as young again... even with my new super cute haircut.
Since this blog is getting more and more food-oriented, I figure now's as good of a time as any to talk about what I'll be drinking this New Year's weekend. Now, here's my official disclaimer - be safe this New Year's, kids. My husband doesn't drink very much at all, and he'll be the driver for the evening - leaving me to enjoy my booze at will. He's a nice boy.
- Martini & Rossi Asti Spumante. Now, I know there's lots of great champagne out there. But I grew up drinking Asti. When I was good, on special occasions, Mom would let me have just a little bit. It's a drink that screams special occasions to me, and it's the tastiest bubbly you can get for $13 a bottle. Plus, I don't really like champagne all that much. I'll drink it, but I like my bubbly to be sweet.
- Lindeman's Framboise Lambic. It could be described as raspberry beer, but most people think that sounds disgusting, so I don't like to call it that. It's sweet, it's raspberry flavored, and you should be drinking more of it. If raspberry isn't your thing, it also comes in cherry, pear, peach, and apple.
- People often ask me what my favorite kind of beer is, and that might just warrant another post. The truth of the matter is that I'm kind of a beer snob. If I'm drinking beer, make mine Belgian and citrusy. Hoegaarden, Blue Moon, any Hefeweizen (here's looking at you, Paulaner, Weihenstephanen and Franziskaner).
I have to say this about my husband: he listens to me. Sometimes I'm confident he's not hearing me, but then he turns around and surprises me. Now, I had intended to not make a post about all the amazing things I got for Christmas, because those normally look like bragging to me. We were very fortunate this year and a little over-the-top - as in, we'll be paying off debt from Christmas presents for a few months to come. But this year, we all wanted to spoil each other, and so we did. I've decided to make my great big list here because a lot of my surprises were food-related. Seeing as I've been food-blogging more and more recently, I intend to post updates on how I'm enjoying the new tools, so I might as well list them all and get it out of the way.
From my husband, I received an Anolon knife block. I've said before that I'm sort of opposed to knife blocks, but if he was going to buy any of them for me, he definitely made the world's best choice with this one. When it comes right down to it, I'm mostly opposed to people who rush out and buy the 22 piece Wusthof set for $1600 just because they can. Then they use one or two of the knives religiously, and break out the other ones once a month or so, but they've still spent a small fortune on them. I am a firm believer that having knives for every task is a great idea, but having the world's best quality knives for all of them is overkill.
The Anolon set really is fantastic. No steak knives, which is good because we got a set of steak knives that I adore for a wedding gift. There were two extra slots in the block, which worked out well because one of them fits my new Henckels Pro-S 8" Chef's Knife perfectly. What can I say - someone thought I was a good girl this year. It's a beautiful piece of cutlery. I have tiny hands, but it still feels great. Well balanced, ergonomic without trying too hard - it just feels nice in your hands, and that's what I want out of a knife.
Other goodies from John included the Microplane grater/zester I've had my eye on for so long, a Silpat baking mat, a dough separator, some great coffee, good chocolate (Frango mints!), and a couple of other things that are slipping my mind because I'm not in the kitchen. (You know you've been spoiled when you're actually forgetting gifts.)
John's parents bought me a KitchenAid mixer. It's the Artisan, 5 quarts and 325 watts of pure power - and it's the pretty white-on-white color that just looks stunning in every kitchen, ever. They also bought me the meat grinder attachment, and my dad bought me the pasta roller attachment. Not to be one of "those" housewives, but I seriously don't know how I cooked before owning this thing. Dough is a breeze. EVERYTHING is a breeze. It looks amazing in our kitchen, it's the most convenient thing ever, and I'm vowing to use it every single day for the rest of my life. I've made brownies from scratch (that's right, I BAKED!), whipped cream to top the brownies, pasta dough to try out the rollers, pizza dough... The possibilities are nearly endless, and I'm going to pick up The Mixer Bible soon so I can use it even more.
My dear mother spent entirely too much money on me, providing me with cookbooks, the Complete Sex & the City series, money for a new computer chair (God, I hate this chair), jewelry, the works. You name it, this fantastic woman provided it for me. As I said, I'm not convinced that I deserve all of this - but I'm not complaining.
So, as we speak, I've got a cat in my lap who's going to be very angry soon when I kick her out to go do laundry. I've got a Crockpot filled with brisket that will be my dinner tonight. I've got a sink full of dishes thanks to all the cooking, and I've only got about two and a half hours until John comes home. I'd like to make it seem like I didn't sleep past noon and actually accomplished something today. Plus, I've got more cooking to do.
If you asked my husband to start listing his favorite foods, I guarantee you that pizza would make the top three. He loves it more than anyone else I've ever met. His mother and father gave me a KitchenAid mixer yesterday, and in the little book it comes with, they have a recipe for pizza dough. No time like the present, I thought, so today I threw together my very first pizza.
Note: This dough absolutely could be made by hand, but the directions that follow are stand mixer-specific.
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (I turned my faucet to hot and just let it do its thing because my thermometer starts at 120; KitchenAid specifies between 105-110 degrees)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
2.5 to 3.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal
Dissolve yeast in water. Add salt, olive oil, and 2.5 cups flour. Using dough hook, mix for about 1 minute on low speed. (I used speed 2.) Add remaining flour a little at a time and continue kneading until dough clings to hook and cleans sides of bowl. Allow to knead for about 2 minutes longer.
At this point, the KitchenAid recipe says "Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down."
I took a hint from Alton Brown on this one and combined it with a little of my own know-how. I filled a casserole dish with hot water from the faucet and put it on the lowest shelf of my oven, then turned the oven on low and let it get warm for about 5 minutes or so. I put my dough in a Pyrex bowl and set it on the top shelf, turned the oven off, then left the oven closed for an hour. This kept the temperature warm, but didn't really start the baking process. An hour later, it had doubled and looked great.
I rolled mine flat and cut it into a square, because I like square pizza. If you like round pizza, it's all up to you. I'm not good at stretching dough yet.
Scatter some cornmeal on your favorite pizza-baking device. (I use a pizza stone - some people think they're silly, but I just love mine.) Top with whatever you'd like. I kept mine simple - homemade tomato sauce and grated mozzarella.
Homemade Tomato Sauce
Note: The quantities here are really estimated, because I don't use measuring spoons when I cook. I read Mark Bittman's recipe, then jazzed it up a little on my own.
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 medium shallot
28 oz. whole plum tomatoes (in can), drained
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 1/2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Garlic salt & fresh pepper, to taste
Warm the olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add the minced garlic and shallots and allow to soften but not turn brown. Add the drained tomatoes, making sure to not splatter oil. (I sort of burned myself.) Mix all ingredients together.
You could continue to make this in the skillet alone, but I transferred the mixture to a blender, added the remaining ingredients, and pureed it. I like pureed sauce instead of chunky sauce on my pizza, but I'd probably feel differently if I put this on pasta. Then I returned it to the skillet and re-heated it before adding it to the pizza. This tomato sauce worked great for the pizza, but would go well with just about anything. Adjust quantities to your liking - it's the best part of cooking! (Aside from the eating, of course...)
In the span of one day, I have gotten to watch my husband hand me a Henckels Pro-S 8" chef's knife AND carry in a brand new KitchenAid mixer from the car. In case you are wondering, no, I have never seen a more attractive man in my life.
Merry Christmas, everyone. I'd write more, but I've got a whole kitchen full of new goodies to enjoy tonight. This might not really count toward the post-per-day goal, but that shiny new artisan mixer makes me forget all about it.
Over the past week or so, I've concluded that John thinks the time-honored tradition of cooking began roughly around 1995.
You have to understand that I find my husband to be absolutely brilliant. He looks at things in a way that I never could and seriously inspires me to learn new things every single day. He is an incredible designer and does things instinctually that wouldn't come to me after hours of slaving over a sketchbook. All those things being said, sometimes he says things to me that make me wonder if he's just messing with me.
The other day, I had just finished watching the Good Eats episode about bread, and I thought he'd be happy to be the first to know that I was about to embark on this journey. Instead, he looked at me and said "Don't you need a bread maker to make bread?"
The decision here was tough. I could be a great big liar and say yes, upping my chances for a bread machine. (Note that I don't really want a bread machine and would be much happier learning how to do it on my own, but at that very moment, the temptation was high.) Then I'd get a bread machine, and we'd be eating delicious bread every day without all the waiting. Of course, then I'd have to be a great big liar, and I try to avoid that, even if it does lead to presents. I could also look at him like he was stupid and suggest that people might have made bread before electric bread machines were invented - maybe even before electricity came around at all.
It's probably evident which one he chose.
So, the incident passed without any major issues. Then, yesterday, he decided he wanted to make breakfast. He's on this low cholesterol kick, but still wanted fried eggs, so he asked me what I would do. I told him to make a fried egg using one egg and one extra egg white. Healthier that way. And even knowing the look I gave him after the bread machine comment, he looked me straight in the eyes and said "Don't you need an egg separator for that?"
The closest Williams Sonoma to us is still about a 15 minute trek. It's a good thing he doesn't cook, or he would be getting in the car every time he saw a new recipe. "Separate the egg yolk from the white? Shit."
Today is the Rizzo family Christmas party at his grandparents' house. No matter how long we're together, it's still incredibly intimidating. There are a lot of Rizzos. I mean, a lot. And the house is sort of like my grandmother's house was - huge when we were kids, but then we all grew up and it's a little tight for the adults. So it's crowded, and very family-ish, and there are a lot of people we don't know very well... and we're the newest couple there, so it's only a matter of time before we get attacked with questions of when we're going to be adding new little Rizzos to the clan.
Don't get me wrong - I love John's family. It's just a lot to handle. His grandmother is the sweetest woman on this earth and I just love her. The whole evening is worth it when she grabs my hands and tells me she's really happy I came. She moves a little slower now and can't do as much as I'm sure she'd like to, but she's so sweet that we just overlook that.
Merry Christmas eve, kids.
First things first, everyone will probably be delighted to know that I'm put a stop to the bread obsession. Batch number two turned out mildly successful, but I still simply cannot get dough to rise. I'm coming to terms with that. Now that I've tried the Mark Bittman method and couldn't get it to work for me, I think I'm going to hold off for a day or two before moving on to the Alton Brown method. At least I have a video for his. Yesterday I threw together some broccoli-cheese soup for John & I, and we ate the basil & garlic bread with olive oil and pepper. The picture is freakishly green and I haven't color-corrected it yet, but you get the idea.
After the Sonic experience, I took photos for one of John's co-workers, Brandee. She had been promising her mom a family photo for years, and since her brother is in town for the holiday, the opportunity finally presented itself. They braved the cold with me to go to Eden Park and take a photo or two. They gave me lots of silly faces, which always makes for great photos.
Except for one problem - I bought shitty parmesan. Now, to be fair, it's not really my fault. I tried something new, and we hated it. The risotto was already cooked, so what else was I supposed to do? So, we ate Romano Risotto. Whatever. I love alliteration, and I love rice. It was a match made in heaven.
The photo below shows it with the steaks that I seared. The steak is beautiful in the picture. It is also not cooked. I didn't know that at the time. See, I'm a grilling girl. I'm a broiling girl. But all this talk of searing steaks got me thinking: I have never made a steak in a pan. Never. And really, how hard can it be?
I am a cooking control freak. I know that sounds strange, seeing as I don't use measuring cups, but it's true. I am an absolute freak. I have a stirring problem. I like to monitor my food. It kills me that I live in an apartment with a solid oven door, because I can't look in every thirty seconds. Pan-searing was not as easy as I thought. The steaks were beyond rare, and when I threw them back on, the peppercorns got so crusted that it was kind of ridiculous to cut. We'll call that a steak learning process.
Parmesan Risotto, adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium shallots, minced
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 1/4 cups Arborio rice
3 1/2 cups chicken broth (the book suggests 3 3/4 cups, but I like my risotto just a little drier)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
In a skillet over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the minced shallots. Allow them to soften, but not brown. Add the wine and stir for a minute or so. Add the rice and cook for about four minutes. Using a rubber spatula, transfer the rice to a slow cooker. Add the chicken broth and salt. Cook on high for two hours, or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid but is still moist. Add in 1/2 cup of the cheese, using the remaining 1/4 cup for garnish. Serve immediately.
Note: I grated my cheese with two sides of the grater - the smallest side for what I was going to stir in, and larger pieces for the garnish. I think it's prettier and tastes better that way, but what do I know? I'm just a girl who can't make bread.
